CRED Practical Document Writing and Management

Wordiness

• Novice writers often feel that they have to pad out their writing with important sounding phrases and long words to give the content credibility. • We are taught passive academic style at University, which is wordy. • We think we need to write passive, wordy style • We like to read concise, active style • Turk, C.C.R. (1978) Do You Write Impressively? Bulletin of the British Ecological Society, ix(3) 5–10 • “ On average, Smith’s style was preferred, not only because it was more readable, but because it inspired greater confidence in his quality as a scientist .”